US3123034A - Bobbin winding change-over mechanism in sewing machine - Google Patents

Description

March 1954 YASUKlCHl OKAZAKI 3,123,034

BOBBIN WINDING CHANGE-OVER MECHANISM IN SEWING MACHINE Filed Sept. 30, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet l March 1964 YASUKICH] OKAZAKI 3,123,034

BOBBIN WINDING CHANGE-OVER MECHANISM IN SEWING MACHINE Filed Sept. 30, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

March 1964 YASUKICHI OKAZAKI 3,123,034

BOBBIN WINDING CHANGE-OVER MECHANISM IN SEWING MACHINE Fil'eci Sept. 30, '1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVEN TOR.

United States Patent 3 123,634 BOBBIW WINDIN G ISI IANGE-OVER MECHANIEM IN SEWHJG MACHINE Yasuirichi Gkazaki, Kita-hn, Japan, assignor to tianome Sewing 'Iachine Co., Ltd, Tokyo, Eapan Fiied Sept. 30, 1959, Ser. No. 843,423 Claims priority, application Japan Sept. 11, 1959 1 Ciaim. (Cl. '112220) This invention relates to a bobbin winding changeover mechanism in sewing machine.

One of the main objects of the invention is to provide a change-over mechanism, which is operably only by manual-opening a clapper cover normally covering the constituents of the mechanism built in the machine head.

Another object is to provide a changeover mechanism of the type above referred to, wherein troublesome and time-consuming loosening and retightening operation of conventional stop motion knob or the like can be dispensed with.

Another object is to provide a change-over mechanism of the kind above referred to, which has substantially no projecting parts outwardly of the machine head outside surfaces, thus providing a neat and beautiful appearance to the machine.

Still another object is to provide a change-over mechanism of the kind above referred to, which is simple in design, but efiicient in operation.

Various further and more specific objects, features and advantages of the invention will appear from the description given below, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings illustrating by way of example a preferred embodiment of this invention.

In the drawings:

FIGURE '1 shows a plan view of essential parts of the change-over mechanism built-in in a sewing machine, and constructed according to this invention, wherein, however, part thereof is broken away to clearly show the internal constituents;

FIGURE 2 represents a cross-section taken on the line AA in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 shows a horizontal section of part of the above mechanism, wherein the constituents occupy the relative positions not to transmit power;

FIGURE 4 represents a simflar sectional view as that of FIGURE 3, wherein, however, the constituents occupy another relative positions adapted to transmit power;

FIGURE 5 is a sectional view taken on the line AA in FIGURE -I, wherein, however, the balance wheel has been removed and the upper drive shaft with a sleeve mounted thereon are shifted about 90 degrees from the position shown in FIGURE 1, in order to clearly show the working condition of an operating lever employed therein;

FIGURE 6 is an inverted plan view of part of the winding mechanism;

FIGURE 7 represents a partial the line VIIVII in FIGURE 6;

FIGURE 8 represents perspective views of essential constituents of the winding mechanism, being, however, dismantled from one after another;

FIGURE 9 is a perspective view of the balance wheel end of the machine head with the clapper cover opened up in order to illustrate the built-in constituents of the winding mechanism.

Now, referring to the drawings, a balance wheel I is provided as in the conventional manner at one end of the machine head 46, said balance wheel being mour'ted on a sleeve or bushing 4 in such a manner that the cylindrical bore surface 2 is kept in engagement with the outside surface of the bushing 4, which is formed with a flange sectional view taken on "ice 22 at the inner end thereof and fixed on a conventional upper drive shaft 3 rotatably mounted horizontally of the machine and adapted to actuate various operating mechanisms contained in the machine head as known per se for making sewing operations. The balance Wheel I is provided with an inwardly projecting cylindrical part formed integral therewith, the said cylindrical projection being provided with a circular groove 6 on its peripheral surface adapted to receive the driving belt driven from a self-contained motor not shown. In addition thereto, the cyiindrical projection is formed at its inner end with an inclined contact surface 64 adapted to engage with a winding wheel 13 of the winder mechanism, which will be described more in detail hereinafter. The balance wheel 1 is held in position by engagement with the flange 22 of bushing 4 as well as with a relatively large screw plug 5, which is screwed into the bushing 4 at its outer end as clearly seen from FIGURE 1.

In the present invention, the bushing 4 is formed with a longitudinal groove or recess 7 on its outside surface, and a change-over lever 9 is mounted pivotally at its one end within the recess 7 by means of a pivot screw 3, while the opposite end of said lever projects in the inward direction out of the inner end of the bushing to form an engaging end 19. The change-over lever 9 is formed with a receiving slot 26, in which an engageable member such as a roller or a steel ball is loosely inserted. A coil spring 11 is inserted under compression between one side edge 21 of said lever '9 and one side wall of said longitudinal recess 7, thus the lever 9 being urged in the same direction as the normal rotational direction of balance wheel 1. As shown in FIGURES 2 and 4, the longitudinal groove '7 is provided at a part of its bottom with a small recess 23, which is so shaped and arranged to receive the engageable member It) and thus to retain it therein, when an external force acts upon the change-over lever 9 at its operating end I9 against the action of spring II to retract said lever.

It will be seen from the foregoing, that when the balance wheel I is driven by a belt (not shown) kept in driving engagement with the circular groove 6 formed on said wheel, and thus the machine is operating in its normal sewing service, the spring H is efiective so as to urge the change-over lever 9 towards its extreme position as shown in FIGURE 9, thus said lever pivoting to the end position about pivot pin 3, thereby the engageable member It} being taken out of said small engaging recess 23 and occupying a relatively nearer position to the side wall of longitudinal groove 7. Under these conditions, the member is is held in engagement with both the arcshaped inside surface 2 of balance wheel 1 and the bottom surface of groove 7, as shown in FIGURE 2. Through the intermediary of thus engaged member 19, a positive and driving connection will be established between balance wheel I and bushing 4. Thus, when the balance wheel I is driven as in the aforementioned manner, rotation is transmitted therefrom through bushing 4- to the upper drive shaft 3, and the machine is capable of sewing as in the conventional manner.

When it is desired to change-over the machine from the above mentioned sewing operation to the bobbinwinding one, provision should be made to shift the changeover lever 9 against the action of spring 11 to the position as shown in FIGURE 3. By this procedure, the engageable member in is disengaged from between the inside wall surface 2 and the bottom surface of longitudinal groove '7, thereby placing said member I in the receiving recess 23 and thus releasing the aforementioned driving connection. When the related parts have been thus relieved from the driving connection, the upper drive shaft 3 as well as the bushing 4 are kept stationary, even when the balance wheel I continues to rotate. Under these conditions, if the operator brings the winding wheel 13 into driving engagement with the thus independently rotating balance wheel 1 at its contact surface 64 as will be described more in detail hereinafter, the bobbin-winding operation may be carried out in a simple, smooth and effective way.

The operating mechanism acting upon the change-over lever at its free end 1% comprises an operating lever 12, which is, as shown in FIGURES l and 5, pivoted on to the machine proper All} by means of a pivot pin 13 and urged to its service position as denoted by chain-dotted lines in FIGURE 5, by a bent-Wire spring 15, which is mounted on a screw pin 14 screwed in the machine proper. There is provided a pivot cover 16 pivoted at 28 by means of a pivot pin 31 on the machine proper adapted to cover the spool winding arrangement built-in the machine.

This cover 16 is so shaped and arranged that when it is closed as shown in FIGURE 5, an angular edge 26 formed on the inner surface of the cover acts upon the operating lever 12 at its upper arm 24', so that the lever is rotated from the above described service position shown by chaindotted lines to its off-service position as illustrated by full lines in FIGURE 5, aga nst the influence by spring 15, and kept in the thus shifted new position, unless the cover 16 is reopened. The spring acts with its hooked end 25 upon the lower arm of said lever 12, the operating end of which, adapted to act upon the engageable end 19 of change-over lever 9, is shown by a reference numeral 27.

it will be clear from the foregoing, that when the clapper cover 16 is opened, the biasing pressure exerted by the angular edge 26 thereof upon the upper arm 24 of operating lever 12 is thereby released, thus the latter returning to the operative position, as shown by the chaindotted lines in FZGURE 5, under the action of spring 15. Thus, during rotation of shaft 3 and bushing 4 with wheel l, the operating lever 12 acts with its operating end 27 upon the shiftable change-over lever 9 at its free end 19, resulting in angular shifting of lever 9 in the clockwise direction seen from FIGURES 3 and 4 into the disengaged position as illustrated in FIGURE 3 so that wheel 1 is freely turnable on bushing 4. On the contrary, when the cover 15 is closed as shown in FIGURE 5, the angular edge 26 thereof acts upon the upper arm 24 of operating lever 12, which is thus biased to its off-service position as already described hereinbefore. The released change-over lever 9 is then moved by the action of spring if. to its power-transmitting coupling position as shown in FIGURE 4.

Now, turning to the spool-winding arrangement, the main arm cover 41 extends substantially over the whole length of the machine arm, less a small length at the balance wheel side end thereof. The thus formed open space is selectively covered separately by the afo-rc mentioned clapper cover 16, which pivotally mounted on part 23 of the machine arm by means of the pivot pin 31, as already described. Underneath the clapper cover 16, there is a supporting plate 29, which is rigidly fixed to the machine arm at the upper surface thereof by means of a plurality of set screws 22, as shown in FIGURES 5 and 9. Upon the back surface of cover 16, an annular thread guide Si) is mounted on a pin as shown in FIGURE 9, W1 ich is adapted to guide the thread 71 from a spool 74 mounted on the machine proper, to the winding arrangement hereinafter described more in detail. The supporting plate 2% is formed with an integral side flange 33, which is provided a guide slot 34 therein. On the other hand, the clapper cover to is provided with an arm member 36 rigidly fixed thereto by means of a couple of fixing screws 35 as shown in FlGURE 9, and a connecting rod 33 is pivotally connected at its one end with said arm 36 by means of a pivot pin 37. The opposite end of the connecting rod 33 is guided along the slot 34 by means of an engaging pin 39, which is fixed on the free end of said rod and engages in the said guide slot. With this connecting linkage arrangement, opened cover 16 is maintained at a predetermined position.

The winding mechanism mounted on the supporting plate 29 comprises a stepped screw 43, by means of which a swivel member 44 and a base plate as are pivotally mounted on said supporting plate as shown in the sectional View of FlGURE 7. Between swivel member 44 and base plate 45, a spring 46 is arranged so as to urge said member id to rotate in the clockwise direction seen from FEGURE 6. The base plate is provided with a slot formed therein and a pin 43 fixed on the swivel member 44 is loosely inserted in the 81011477, thus acting as a stopper between said both members 44 and 45 during their relative movement. A project on 49 of base plate 45 is bent in the upward direction and passes through a slot cut in the supporting plate 29 above the upper surface thereof. A spring 51 is mounted on the stern of an end screw 52 screwed on to the upper end (seen in 7) of the stepped screw 43 to prevent the latter from disengaging, one end at 53 of said spring 51 engaging with the above mentioned bent-up projection 49, while the opposite end 54 of the spring abutting against a projection 55 formed on the supporting plate 29, thus the base plate 45 being urged to rotate in the counter clockwise direction.

A finger-operated operating lever or presser 56 is pivotally mounted on supporting plate 29 by means of a stepped screw 57, a spring 6 being tensioned as illustrated in FlGURE 6 between a projection 53 on said presser 56 and a stationary pin 59 studded on plate 29, thereby the presser being urged to rotate in the clockwise direction seen from FIGURE 6. The finger-operated presser 56 and the base plate 45 are so dimensioned and arranged that a shoulder 61 for-med on the former is always kept in engagement with a projection 62 formed integral with the later, as shown in FIGURE 6. The swivel member 44 is cut through a bore 63, in which a winder shaft 1:7 is fit with rotatable plays. As seen from FIGURE 7, a winding wheel 13 is press-fit on to the lower end of said shaft 17 and adapted to engage with the inclined contact surface 64, as already described hereinbefore. The shaft proper 65 of winder shaft 17 projects through a recess 68 formed on the supporting plate 2.9, which is further formed with an opening 69 cut therethrough as clemly seen in FlGURES '7 and 8, the finger engaging portion 67 of said presser 5d passing through said opening 6? from below to upper. The above described winder mechanism further comprises a winding reel 7% for thread winding, a fixing nut '72 for firmly positioning the stepped screw 57, and a bobbin 73 mounted on the shaft proper 65 to windup the under thread.

With the above mentioned winding mechanism, when it is desired not to service the mechanism, the clapper cover 16 is closed as in the manner already described, rotation is not transmitted from balance wheel to the winding mechanism and at the same time whole of the latter is neatly contained within the thus closed cover 16, thus in this off-service condition providing none of projecting parts out of the machine head, wlt'ch provides thereby a beautiful appearance of the machine.

On the contrary, if it is desired to service the winding mechanism, the clap er cover 16 is opened as explained hereinbefore, thereby motion is transmitted from the balance wheel to the Winding mechanism, and at the same time the Whole constituents of the latter are exposed to the operators eyes and ready for winding-up the thread by means of the winding reel '71 Under the winding conditions, the swivel member 44 and base plate 45 are maintained in a balanced relation to each other by the fact, that the member is urged to rotate in the clockwise direction by the influence of spring 46, while the plate 45 is pressed in the counter clockwise direction by means of spring 51. By the above mentioned resilient transmitting connection, the driving engagement between winding wheel 1% and the contact surface 64 on balance wheel providing also a resilient nature, which means a desirous effect upon the thread winding-up operation.

With the above illustrated winding mechanism, the presser 56 is urged by a spring 60 to rotate about the stepped screw '57 in the counter clockwise direction as viewed from FIGURE 6, thus urging with its shoulder 61 the base plate 45 through engagement with the projection 22 thereon to rotate equally in the counter clockwise direction. By the last mentioned action, the winding wheel 18 is normally kept clear from the contact surface 64 on balance wheel 1. When the operator presses down the portion 67 of presser 56 with his fingers end, the wheel 18 is brought against the action of spring 60 into engagement with said contact surface 64, thereby motion is transmitted thereto from balance wheel 1.

In order to avoid somewhat difficult machining of the above mentioned recess 23 in the bottom of the longitudinal groove 7, a modified embodiment of the invention is provided with a relatively deeper groove corresponding to that denoted by reference numeral 7 and a thin strip having an opening corresponding in its shape to the recess 23 is inserted in the deeper groove and mounted firmly in position on the bottom of the latter.

It will be clearly understood, that the invention provides a simple and efficient means adapted to be changedover from the drivingly transmitting service to the offservice position between the inside wall surface in the central bore of the balance wheel and the outside peripheral surface of the bushing 4, or in the reverse sense, as the occasion may desire.

While in the conventional machine, when the operator desires to make ready for bobbin winding he has to manually loosen the stop motion knob or the like and then to retighten the same again, which means a troublesome and time-consuming operation, the mechanism according to this invention provides an effective and quick operating possibility, only by way of closing and opening the clapper cover pivoted to the machine proper.

While substantially only one embodiment of the present invention has been shown and described, it will be understood that the embodiment is capable of further modification and variation while still employing the pninciples of the invention. It is to be understood, therefore, that the scope of the invention should be limited only by the scope and proper interpretation of the claim appended hereto.

The invention having thus been described, that which is believed to be new and for which protection by Letters Patent is desired, is:

In a sewing machine, in combination, a drive wheel; a main shaft adapted to cause sewing operations and turnably supporting said drive wheel; coupling means including a shiftable means movable between a disconnecting position, and a coupling position for coupling said shaft with said wheel; a bobbin-winding mechanism including a support plate, a bobbin holder having a vertical axis and projecting from said support plate and dapted to support a bobbin, and control means operable to establish a drive connection between said bobbin-winding mechanism and said drive wheel; a cover member movable between a closed position covering said bobbinwinding mechanism, and an open position permitting ac cess to the same, said cover member being operatively connected to said shiftable means so that the latter assumes said disconnecting position when said cover member is in said open position and assumes said coupling position when said cover member is in said closed position whereby said control means of said bobbin winding mechanism can only be operated when said cover member is in said open position and said shaft is disconnected from said drive wheel, said cover member having an inner surface exposed only in said open position and located substantially at the horizontal level of said bobbin holder; :1 vertical spool supporting member located at said level outside of said cover member and adapted to supply a thread; and a guide means mounted on said inner surface for guiding a thread from said spool supporting member to the bobbin in said open position of said cover memher, said guide means projecting upwards at said level from said inner surface of said cover member in said open position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 699,973 Neeley Aug. 30, 1898 1,256,755 White Feb. 19, 1918 1,913,304 Bra'ckett et a1 June 6, 1933 2,430,932- Hohmann Nov. 18, 1947 2,784,917 B0110 Mar. 12, 1957 2,871,809 Moro Feb. 3, 1959 2,938,478 Johnson May 31, 1960 3,058,437 Iida Oct. 16, 1962

Images